Boat Ship
This probably depicts our journey through the seas of life and how we meet the rough and smooth experiences, as with example below. In many dreams boats and ships appear to depict a situation, environment or relationship the dreamer is in – as in the saying, ‘in the same boat’.
Because of the fact that once in the water it is difficult to leave the boat, the situation is often one that has certain bonds or commitments which may not be easy to leave or break away from – such as occurs in a close relationship or a work situation. The condition the boat depicts may relate to a physical one, such as a work opportunity, a place we live in, a relationship that, like any relationship, offers certain opportunities and restrictions – or it might be an attitude a feeling or a belief, such as pride or love, which places you in a certain connection with the world – i.e. ‘at sea’ or lost; in a stormy situation; in dry dock, etc. The boat can also be a place of safety amidst the storms of life. Thus attitudes or strengths enabling the dreamer to meet difficulties.
A boat is the thing that keeps you afloat in a different element than you are used to. As such it depicts the attitudes that enable you to have a clear boundary and certainty of who you are. It is your confidence and the threshold that separates your waking self from the massive and deep unconscious – the ocean of collective awareness. This is clear in the following example.
Example: Opened a paper at the comic strip. Began to read and become involved in the story. A small speed boat was at sea. But the sea dissolved anybody who fell in. One man fell in but held himself together as a blob of water and jumped back to the speedboat. I remember the words “The sea is a great solvent.” Anthony.
This dream pictures Anthony’s identity or ability to be an individual amidst the great ocean of life or consciousness. So the boat probably represents how he sees his body, as a thing separate from the rest of the world.
The various environments boats may be in show the condition or feelings surrounding the basic life situation the boat depicts. For instance being ‘at sea’ – depending upon calmness or rough seas – shows the dreamer being away from a familiar base or in difficult or uncertain times.
Example: I am in a large glass boat with my wife. The sea is very rough and I am afraid the boat will sink.’ Ron D.
The dream occurred a few weeks before a breakdown occurred in which the dreamer’s wife left him.
Example: I was inside a large boat, probably a tanker. There were a lot of passengers, but it appeared as if we were imprisoned in a huge room. It was very dingy and dismal. I am not sure though whether people realised they were prisoners. Maybe one only realised one was imprisoned if one tried to escape. Bob. A.
This boat obviously represents a situation Bob finds it difficult to get out of, and is only just realising he is trapped in. It also shows him involved with other people.
Example: I’m a young woman standing on a sea shore. I am waiting for my man. I hear the oars in the row locks of a boat, then it comes into view. A man comes to me, and puts his arms around me like he’s known me all my life. My man pauses, turns his head to a man still in the boat and says – Tell them this is it. Phillipa.
Here the boat holds the suggestion of being an event bringing Phillipa a love she has been waiting for.
Anchored boat: Security; stable relationship or situation; opposite of drifting.
Beached boat: Possibly suggests a situation in which you are ‘on dry land’ not subject to many changes or uncertainties. But it could also relate to a project, relationship or endeavour that cannot be got underway, or has got stuck in some way. However if you beach the boat and get out, then it shows the end of a journey, project or relationship.
Boat without oars: Ill equipped to deal with the situation you are in. A loss of motivation and being subject to external events to direct your life. So this might point to indecisiveness or lack of initiative.
Bows: One’s strength to meet life’s changes.
Canoe: Much like a small boat, but with overtones of nature, of being in the wild, of surviving. It is sometimes in testing surroundings or ones in which you feel the presence of nature, which can be wonderful or scary.
Disembarking: Leaving a phase of life, such as motherhood, marriage or a job. Ending a relationship or arriving at a new phase of life, a new possibility or great change.
Dock: A feeling of security when you have left an inner journey. Also because a dock is a permanent feature boats or ships can be moored to, it might indicate a safe ending to a relationship. A secure though public place to be. The end or beginning of a journey or a life change and the beginning of another phase of life.
If you are leaving the dock in a boat/ship, it suggests facing going out into the world and putting out something of oneself into the world through your relationships and life with people.
Dry dock: Necessary changes being made; circumstances not conducive to being actively involved in a project or relationship; delays. There might be a link with ill health here also.
Embarking alone: Independence or loneliness. Entering a new situation and perhaps unknown events or possibilities. Opportunity for new relationships.
Ferry boat: If across a river, end of a relationship; transition from one phase of life to another or one life situation to another; the emotional connections in a relationship. Sometimes links with death or the loss of someone.
Going on a cruise: Desiring relationship with others; or to be a part of other peoples life. Leaving ones everyday life behind.
Boat journey by night: Classic archetype of searching for one’s roots in life; the journey into ones unconscious experience. See: night sea journey under archetypes.
Keel: Basic personal strengths. The foundation of your personality or identity.
Leaving boat but leaving bag on it: Losing confidence or self value, such as might happen when children have gone or job ended.
Lots of small boats: Other peoples relationships.
Missing a boat: Missing opportunity; not grasping significance of events; not ‘making it’ in a relationship.
Motor boat: Similar to car but more sense of isolation or aloneness. The motor boat also shows the powerful feelings and drives which impel us into action, or give us a direction in life, as in the following example. For instance a strong anxiety can be a power, an engine, which motivates us to do or avoid certain things, such a taking risks, entering a relationship. So too can love, dependence, desire for wealth, loneliness, and the struggle to survive.
Person leaving the boat: A boat often represents a relationship, so leaving the boat or ship suggests someone leaving what was a group or personal relationship,
Example: My wife, H and I were on a large and beautiful motor boat, about thirty feet long. We were speeding along a river about hundred yards wide. I didn’t seem to be steering with a wheel, but there was no problem. Instead of water the river appeared to be a thick slurry of some kind. We were passing through countryside and suddenly H dropped what I felt might be an important envelope overboard. It lay on the top of the river. I wanted to stop and retrieve it. Other boats were coming along some way behind and I wondered if one of them would go over it. There was a lever which was the accelerator. I pushed it right back and the boat slowly reduced speed, but we were a long way from the envelope/package. The further away we got the less important it seemed, although I had wondered if it contained documents important to where we were going – which I felt was to do with some sort of work or teaching an official or business group.
Suddenly H was on the right bank of the river. I am not sure why, but she had left the boat. I wasn’t sure how she could get back on board again as the river was now full of debris and weeds – tree stumps, metal poles, cans, really full – and the banks were shallow and difficult to approach. I found a place where I could pull in, and there were steps in the earthy or limestone type bank that had been worn in with use. I managed to stop the boat – I still couldn’t find controls to guide or stop the craft – by holding on to the bank, and H got on. I was very pleased and felt love and pleasure that she had got on again. I kissed her warmly. We pulled away from the bank, avoiding a big metal post and chain low in the water. I felt if we went slowly we could get through all the debris okay. Roy.
This dream occurred during a period of separation in the marriage and shows how Roy is not really guiding the boat. He is being impelled by drives he doesn’t have full control over. Parting and coming together again are clearly depicted in the dream.
Rowing a boat: Personal skill or effort to achieve a goal. Whether you are succeeding well or not shows how you are assessing your own efforts to reach goals or take a direction in life.
Rudder: Sureness about direction in life; ability to take a direction in life and maintain it against other influences.
Shared journey on boat or ship: A situation we are involved in with other people or person, such as marriage, business partnership, armed forces; this is the relation-ship, a shared journey in which you ‘are all in the same boat’.
Sinking ship/boat: Fear of relationship ending; difficult events or circumstances are occurring; could be children leaving mother, so the collective ‘boat journey’ has finished; also occasionally threat of illness or death.
Small Boat with one other person: One’s relationship with that person.
Idioms: Burn one’s boats; in the same boat; miss the boat; rock the boat; ships that pass; ship comes in; a tight ship; in a boat without a paddle. See: anchor; submarine.
Useful questions:
If I am not alone on this boat, what is the dream saying about my shared journey with the person or people I am with?
What is the situation depicted – storm, calm, etc – and how does that relate to my life?
Am I directing the boat or am I a passenger – and in what way am I alone or going along with somebody in life?
Comments
Hi–I have had recurring dreams over the years of several different types of ships and boats in various types of waters cruising at enormous speeds without direction but not colliding. I’m watching from various vantage points. Help? thanks, jacki
For years I have had reoccuring dreams of being on a cruise ship on a lake, a roller coaster, being on the yard of a large house where the grass rolls and is moving, a large water slide that repeats the ride, multiple zip lines over water, a large airplane. All of these vessles are moving up and down, around repeating my journey or ride on them with many other people. I continue to walk or ride but cannot figure out how to get off. I am also anxious about getting off when I land or the ride ends but cannot find an exit. I am also with a crowd of people who make it difficult to move and I don’t know most of them but there is usually one or two, up to 6 individuals I went to high school with and some are always individuals I dated or people who liked me or I liked them asking me to be in committed relationships but I cannot commit and can’t decide if it is right. I haven’t talked with these people for 25 years nor do I ride on any of these types or transports regularly. What do these 2 themes mean and why can’t I get off and why do the rides or environment change and go in circles which are anxiety provoking and scary because I can’t escape.
I keep getting a dream about a large boat/ship in a dock with a calm sea. I never get onto the boat though because there are people in my way. Also, I’m frantically looking for these peoples child because he has gone missing.
I get this dream and other dreams about ships a lot and I’d like to know what it means!
Hi,
I had a dream the other night that I was holding on to the edge of a large ship working my way around it whilst it was out at sea, I seemed to be climbing around the bottom of the ship just above sea level, I wasn’t worried about falling in the water and I wasn’t trying to get back on the ship. The purpose of my working my way around was that I was trying to break some sort of a code! There wasn’t anyone else in the dream although I appeared to be aware of someone who was trying to “train” me to break the code.
Maria
Maria – It seems the dream is all in code. It is a coded message about your life and how to live it.
As far as I can decipher it, the boat is your sense of being an individual and having a body that you identify with as you. Then you are on the outside of the ship in a very precarious situation that takes a lot of skill to move around. The code you are learning is to survive and live your life. The being who is training you is your spirit that is helping you decipher the meaning of your life and situation you are in.
Tony
Hi Tony, I would love to hear your interpretation of this dream:
My husband and I are in a very fancy room, on a moving large boat, the furnishings are very lavish and antique, the room is beautiful and it feels calm and peaceful.
Suddenly a crash and I see out a window that we have been hit by a massive wave. the room starts to fill up with water and I know we are sinking. The room fills quickly and we are both frantically looking for a way out. The room is so full now that we are touching the roof. I know we are going to die so I accept this inside my heart and prepare to drown in the final seconds before I am fully submerged. I remember the water finally fully covering my face, and seeing my husband at this point still kicking around in the water, pushing at the roof.
Suddenly, he opens a kind of ‘trap door’ in the roof of the room, and pushes me up through it, he comes up behind me. Above is a dirt road and a small town, and I remember looking at the open trapdoor from the dry land above thinking wow there is a whole other world below. I looked at my husband in disbelief and he said to me light heatedly “did you really think we were going to die? I always knew that door was there!” I feel annoyed that I had experienced such terror while he always knew we would survived, but overwhelmed with being so happy I’d survived. We walk down the dirt road away from the town.
It would be great to hear what you think 🙂
Hi Emma – It sounds from the dream that your husband and you enjoy life.
Then it is about facing death and your feelings about that, a sort of practice run. This often happens, and as you face what appears to be certain death you accept this in your heart.
But your husband apparently always knew there was a way beyond. And the trapdoor into another world is an excellent picture of how people transfer from physical life to the life beyond the body.
It is a lovely dream, and I believe there are even more levels for you both to explore. The fact you have managed it in your dream is a sign of your courage and wisdom.
Tony
Last night, I dream that me and a man that I’m to marry (this is from the dream, I’m not actually in any relationship right now) are on a boat. We’re inside it. It’s nice, new, modern, but not showy, just real nice. He’s driving and I’m right beside him. It’s fun, but huge cruise ships keep passing us and they pass right by. I’m amazed that it never rocks his boat like I expect it to. I say I’m ready to go in. (back to land) He says, why? I tell him I’m tired of being on the boat. He doesn’t want this and tries to get me to stay on the boat longer. I use the cruise ships as an excuse, that it’s scary. I don’t trust him to drive. I don’t know if its safe, letting someone else drive besides myself. I ask why the cruise ships don’t rock or disturb our boat.
Sherry – This whole dream is about relationship, but with a dream man. He probably represent your experience of men and your reactions to men.
The boat is a model of a relationship, the man is driving, and you are alone together on the boat. Like any relationship it is not easy to leave without agreement. The scene says that for a while you like being together with a man, but you soon feel uneasy and cannot trust a man who has different objectives. You prefer to be in control, it feels safer.
The big cruise ships are many people in relationship going the same way – with common objectives. They are in fact not causing any problems because the problems are coming from yourself. This is probably because the man in the dream is a reflection of your past experience of men, which leads to you feeling unsure. Try a different image and see if it works – try a different dream scene or ending. See See http://dreamhawk.com/dream-encyclopedia/peer-dream-group/#carryforward
Tony
I had a dream last night that I was on a criuse ship with several other passangers,I didn’t know who they were, we were far out to sea when a rogue wave hit,it was so big that it actually turned this big ship over, but as I gathered my senses together in my dream I was actually right side-up again, and no one was injured.
Roxanne – The best I can do with your dream is to say that while enjoying yourself a sudden event turns your world upside down, but you quickly recover. Because dreams are dealing with things deep inside us it may take some time for it to become real.
Tony
My husband and I are in a large ship I am steering but there is very little water, I keep steering ahead the waters almost gone, my husband is shouting something I can’t make out and then we are out to sea. What could this mean?
Cece – It seems, from your dream, as if you feel you are the guiding light in your marriage – the ship is usually about relation-ship, especially as it is only the two of you on board and you are steering.
I see the dream as a summary of your life situation, there is some uncertainty about what you are facing at the moment, but soon there will be a change and things will be okay.
Tony
I was on a ship that was sinking. I can remember there were a few people onboard. the boat stayed on it’s side and remember standing on the side of the ship looking up at the sky. We were living on the ship while waiting for help and days had gone by, where I was sleeping items were going missing, rations were getting low and people were stealing. But even after waking from this dream I can still ‘feel’ the metal of the ship. (and rememebr the colour blue of the paint)
Ok, so a few nights ago I had a really strange dream. I was walking around carrying a guitar that belongs to someone I used to be in love with (never met in person, just been friends online for 8 years or so) Then I ran into him.. and we walked and then we were at a beach and I turned into a glass boat with one of those siren sculptures on the bow (I was the sculpture too, and interacting with him as the sculpture) He played the guitar and we sailed off into the sunset. It was beautiful lol but I have no idea what it means.. I’m reminded of a childrens rhyme though about the cat and the owl falling in love.
what does it mean when your going overboard? i get this really often.
Jonathan – I really need to know a lot more about the dream to be able to understand it. What happens when you fall in the water? Do you swim or sink? Do you come out again and in what condition?
Tony
In all of my dreams it was a wooden boat on land in the process of being built. In one there are people building it in the middle of the desert. In the other one the shell of the boat is sitting on the driveway. I didn’t see anything in this mentioning something similar to my dreams.
I had this dream that I was walking on the sea shore and I spotted something shiney in the sand. As the waves kept coming in, and the shiny things kept moving, I realized they were gold coins. Then I looked up and not too far into the distance was this gigantic ship! It was not a pirate ship, or a yacht. It was a bright red with gold accents on it. What does this mean? Please help me!
Hi! I dreamt of cruising or floating on something which wasn’t shown in my dream and seeing a huge fleet of battleships around me. They had really nice lights and looked really new and majestic. I could see them so close-up and clear. The time was around evening with a medium blue sky. Could you possibly tell me what this would mean? Thank you!
hi!!I had a strange dream about a wooden ship and 8or10 wooden boats inside it. In the dream 4 girls prepared a coffin for me and placed it inside the ship but as I checked it its not a coffin but a wooden boat.and not just 1 but several wooden boats. Its like a ritual that they need to sank the whole ship in the middle of the sea. I was just watching the scene. I liked to stop them from the ritual but the ship already sank. and as part of ritual they place some nuclear matter inside the ship.
Maruko – I have a sense of your dream that it is about losing something precious to you – something you did not want to lose. Also there is s detached part of you watching as the wooden boat goes down. And the nuclear matter could either be a fear you have that you have been infected with radioactive material, or that you have actually been infected. So it is wise to check.
But the dream does not say that this is a serious thing, but even so it involves death or some part of you.
Tony